Educational Challenges Essay

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Sheriffgoff Educational Challenges In Fania Davis’ essay, Where Dignity Is Part of the School Day, she presents a story about a boy “Eric Buttler” and his struggles in school. Davis also talks about many other facets of the school and the system in which it belongs. Davis shows the struggle of the misunderstood youth of America and how the educational system deals with children. Davis suggests that there is a better way than punitive punishment. In bell hooks story, Democratic Education, she analyzes the idea of transcendence through education. Hooks writes, “[t]eachers who have a vision of democratic education assume that learning is never confined solely to an institutionalized classroom”, suggesting you can learn from anything, anywhere, and anytime. These Writers are talking about a much bigger idea than even they think. In her story, Davis talks about a boy (Eric Buttler) having a hard time in school and lashes out at a teacher who only knows of one way to get a child in line. The response of which, the teacher gets mad and implements a punishment; the counselor walks in and stops this punishment and talks to the kid instead. They came to find out that Eric Buttler was raising his siblings and watching his mother do drugs, the stress was too much; “[W]e were about to put this kid out of school, when what he really deserved was a medal.” With the implementation of this new program of talking instead of issuing punishment, you see a positive change in the boy’s outlook and keeps another kid in school. Davis explains it best when she states,” [p]unitive Justice asks only what rule or law was broken, who did it, and how they should be punished. It responds to the original harm with more harm. Restorative justice asks who was harmed, what are the needs and obligations of all affected and how does everyone affected figure out how to heal the harm”. bell hooks

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